COLLINSVILLE, Ill. (KMOX) - Senator Dick Durbin will make an appearance in the Metro East later today, focusing on creating a better way of life for low-income workers.

Durbin is a major backer of the “Minimum Wage Fairness Act”, which seeks to raise that figure to $10.10 an hour.

“By official standards of poverty, many people working under minimum wage with a family of three are below the poverty line,” he says. “These are hardworking people doing their best, and it’s very tough for them to make ends meet.”

He explains that those trying to scrape by on the current minimum wage end up relying on more aid from the government.

“Which means, basically all the other taxpayers in America are subsidizing their income when their employers don’t pay them enough to get by,” he says.

Durbin will bring that message to Collinsville this afternoon during a 2:00 p.m. appearance at the headquarters of IBEW – Local 309.

He will be joined by local minimum-wage earners as well as an economics professor who will discuss the positive impact a higher minimum wage would have for workers.